Lars Eller got his stick up into the face of Drew Doughty with just 1:35 left in the third period, with his team winning 3-2 after being down 2-0 to the hometown L.A. Kings, and having stormed back from the dead.

The Kings, of course, with just 45 seconds left in the game, would tie it with Lars in the sinbin, and ultimately take it to a shootout where the Canadiens didn’t get the job done and lose 4-3.

I wish I’d kept track of all the ill-timed, momentum-killing, game-ruining penalties Eller has managed over the past few years. Penalties late in periods, penalties that cancel out power plays, penalties when it’s definitely time to not get penalties. It seems like he’s the king of this &$%#@% category.

I know what the Maharishi would tell me (if I knew him and he was still alive). Take deep breaths. Concentrate on trees and streams. Focus on the good that happened before Lars slipped up.

It’s a shootout loss that yes, gets the team a point, but it should’ve been two, and it should’ve been a cool halt to the California creamin’.

It stings, Maharishi. Just like it probably did when the Beatles dumped you. Eller owes us all a dinner.

The first period was as dreadful as the showings in San Jose and Anaheim. Outshot 13-2 and outscored 2-0. Heck, it was only a few games ago when the boys had shutout the Leafs and won their fourth straight, and we were feeling high and mighty and thinking magnificent thoughts.

But seven periods in California changed all that.

The second frame saw the Canadiens come to life though, and Tom Gilbert, looking like a forward, closed the gap to 2-1 when he swooped in and around Jonathan Quick and lit the lamp. And it became a tie game not long after when Gally took a nice pass from Plekanec and backhanded it home.

In the third frame, Max would notch his 31st on a nice pass from DD, and all was swell in Habsville until Eller’s brain froze like a tray of ice cubes, and with the clock winding down and the Kings on the power play, along with Quick on the bench and the extra man out, the bullet was fired to tie it.

Overtime would solve nothing, and in the shootout, the Canadiens shooters were Chucky (nope), DD and Max (yes), and Eller (post), while Kings skaters buried 3 of 4 on Dustin Tokarski, who overall played a decent game between the pipes.

This mostly lousy four-game road trip comes to an end on Saturday in Phoenix, but things don’t exactly let up. The following four games see the boys tackle the Lightning and Sens at home, and the Islanders and Lightning on the road.

It seems that Brendan Gallagher (MTL), Blake Geoffrion (MTL), Jonathan Quick (LA), Sam Gagner (EDM), 30 other players in the NHL, and half the Hamilton Bulldogs are using the new Shnarped Hockey app to engage their fans. I don’t have a device that uses apps, so I guess this leaves me out.

I guess for the first time since the playoffs began, we know exactly who’s going to win the whole thing. At least it’s the first time I’ve known. For those of you who insist you knew all along that the Kings would steamroll like this, you’ll soon be able to change channels with your nose.

I had no idea which team would emerge. I thought Pittsburgh had a great shot at it. And of course it wasn’t them or the Rangers or Canucks or Bruins and the rest. It’s the Kings who are not to be denied, not after winning 2-1 again in overtime, in New Jersey, which was also their 10th straight road win, and who now take a 2-0 lead back to California.

If the Kings collapse now, they’d have to have plastic surgery on their face, preferably from Bruce Jenner’s surgeon, and hightail it out of town before the Bloods and Crips track them down. Kim Kardashian probably wouldn’t even want to have sex with them. And imagine the talk show jokes? “The L.A. Kings are the only folks in town hoping the San Andreas Fault opens up so they can jump in,” quips Jay Leno.

None of which will happen. Not with this team. These L.A. Kings are playing such fantastic hockey it’s shocking. Talk about a group of guys who put it all together late in the season, with Jonathan Quick in goal imitating a cat, and the gang up front showing off like crazy.

It’s all extremely impressive.

In other news……

A guy showed up at the ferry terminal last night carrying a big sign and petition book, looking slightly worse for wear, and no wonder. He’s been walking around the world since Sept. 11, 2001.

His name is Roland Hohn, from Geneva, Switzerland, and after 9/11 he decided to go for a walk, which has taken him through the Middle East, Europe, South America, Mexico, up the West Coast, and now his plan is to get to New York by Sept. 11 of this year. I think he’d better hurry up. September is only a few months away, and it took him three days to walk the 30 kilometers from Powell River to the ferry terminal.

Roland is collecting signatures to present to the United Nations while in New York, all in the name of world peace. He’s hoping that at that time, every man, woman, and dictator will throw away their weapons, and peace will suddenly happen. I signed the petition and while doing so, I asked him how he did his laundry, where he slept at night, and where money came from for his food and cigarettes.

From the universe, he answered.

I told him it must be difficult, and he shrugged and said that we all have difficult lives. He said I have a difficult life and he doesn’t even know me. But he’s right. It’s darn difficult. The Habs haven’t won the Cup since 1993 and we still have Scott Gomez.

For most of my life I watched hockey games in the east at what I thought was an absolutely normal time – 7 or 7:30 in the evening.

Then I moved out west and now the games are on at 4 or 4:30. And this seems absolutely normal.

Now, with the Habs in California, these 7 and 7:30 games seem so ……..late.

Of course, they’re 10 and 10:30 in the east which is definitely too late.

Does any of this make sense?

Habs in Los Angeles after falling to San Jose a couple of days ago. I have a friend who’s not only an LA cop but also a big Habs fan. I wonder if he’s there?

The first period in this land of the palm trees ended in a 1-1 tie, which is slightly disappointing. It would have been a Habs 1-0 lead if Glen Metropolit, who usually works extra hard, had not had Kopitar blow by him late in the frame to tie it for the Kings. Ryan O’Byrne fought a nice little fight which is great to see even though the guy he fought was a foot smaller. I’d like O’Byrne to be a big, tough, nasty hombre, so fights are good. As long as he wins them.

My Lazy Synopsis of the Second and Third Period because I have to get up at 3:30 a.m.

Dominic Moore blew a long shot by the LA goalie Jonathan Quick to give the Habs a nice, little 2-1 lead, then Pouliot drove one home. LA eventually got within one and put some serious pressure on the Canadiens in the last five minutes until Tomac Plekanec put the thing on ice. Good guys 4, LA 2.

Huge win after losing in San Jose and the boys claw their way back into a playoff spot.

Random Notes:

It’s down the freeway to Anaheim, where not only our old friend Saku Koivu now toils, but also a bunch of gold medal Olympians, including Scott Neidermayer, Ryan Getzlaf, and Corey Perry. Then there’s Americans Ryan Whitney and Bobby Ryan, plus Teemu Selanne and Koivu from the Finnish team. And goalie Jonas Hiller was outstanding for the Swiss.

So what I’m driving at is this; Habs are up against a tough team Sunday. But it’ll be nice to see Koivu. Even nicer to see a Canadiens win.